The Vanity of Princes

The Reading of Isaiah 40 and the Prayer for Eternal Perspective

Please turn your Bible to Isaiah chapter 40 and that can be found on page 600 of Your pew Bible. When you have that please stand for the reading of God's Word. We will read beginning in verse 12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span?

Enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance. Who has measured the spirit of the Lord or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Lebanon would not suffice for fuel. Nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are counted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you like in God or what likeness compare with him.

An idol. A Craftsman cast it and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and cast for its silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

Do you not know? Do you not hear. Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in? Who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness? Scarcely are they plant planted scarcely sown.

Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth when he blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. He who brings out their host by number calling them all by name by the greatness of his might and because he is strong Empowered not one is missing.

Why do you say Oh Jacob and speak? Oh Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God. Have you not known have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God the creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and not be weary and young men shall fall exhausted.

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like Eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Amen. You may be seated Dear Heavenly Father.

We ask that you would Not only demonstrate by your word your eternity, but that you would Communicate this to our hearts by the power of your spirit that we might embrace it fully and all the implications for our own lives.

In Jesus name. Amen. So in this passage here, we have been looking at the greatness of God we have seen that particularly in the previous section in his immensity if you remember his immensity is his the fact that you cannot measure him and This has been presented With a bunch of rhetorical questions.

Who has measured the waters and in the hollow of his hand who has marked off the heavens with the span etc, etc. All right, there's a bunch of questions and then the conclusion that was in verses 12 onward and then a conclusion in 15 through 17 That God is greater than all things.

He cannot be measured and then Another question in 18 saying who then will you liken him to now? We find ourselves in a new passage. That's doing the same thing. It's asking rhetorical questions showing one aspect of the greatness of God.

The Eternity of God and His Sovereignty Over Princes

There will be a conclusion and then there will be another question. How then can you compare him to other things in verse 25? So that's to give you an overview of how this passage is structured here. So we have the second set of.

Well, there's multiple sets of rhetorical questions. But the second section that begins with rhetorical questions asking did you not know? Did you not hear and so whereas before we were primarily concerned with his immensity the fact that he cannot be measured physical with physical measurements.

Now we speak of his eternality that all other things are temporary, but he is eternal. He has been before the foundations of the earth. He precedes time itself. What does it even mean to precede time?

He is eternal. So this begins here in verse 21. Do you not know. Do you not hear. Has it been not told from you? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation the earth is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in? Okay, so God is He sits above the circle of the earth circle of the earth. Now many people have taken this to demonstrate.

That.

God's.

Omniscience is so far that he understands that the earth is a globe. While certainly he does understand that the earth is a globe I do not believe that is necessarily how we should understand this the Bible and Job.

Job speaks of the heavens as being a circle. The Proverbs speaks of the depths of the ocean as being a circle the notion of a circle is of just something vast and. And immeasurable, right? So if you look at the if you look at the horizon, you know.

The way you would see the horizon is basically being the semicircle in your vision. This is just talking about the the great vastness of it. Okay, so it's not necessarily talking about its shape so much as talking about its vastness.

He sits above the circle of the earth above its vastness, even though it's vast. He is above that even. And what does that imply for him he is sovereign he is over all things. The Lord sits in the heaven.

He does whatever he pleases as the psalmist says, right? And so this is something that highlights his sovereignty over all things. Describes the inhabitants of the earth as grasshoppers. The modern idiom is that they're all like tiny ants, you know, you go up in a skyscraper.

You look down at the people below you say they're all like tiny ants says here. They're like a grasshopper. You know a grasshopper you imagine more Desperate movement things moving around right when you watch grasshoppers so maybe it refers to people acting in quick acts of desperation so all of this describing his his greatness and notice that it will compare him to The princes of the earth that are temporary him bringing them to-nothing.

They are scarcely planted scarcely stone. Scarcely their stem takes root when he blows on them and they wither. They are temporary but he is forever. It speaks about him being forever and when it says has it not been told to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood it from the foundations of the earth? In other words? He is one that precedes Even the beginning he precedes the foundation of the earth. Other things are very temporary as it's going to compare him, but he is one Where his greatness has been known ever since the beginning because he precedes the beginning itself.

Now if you've ever wondered, what does that mean to be before time? Well, there is no before time. Time is the time is the measurement. There really is no before time. So the before time be before time is simply to Transcend time itself.

So just like God transcends Physical space he is immense immeasurable. He transcends time we call that eternal. He is eternal if you understand what that eternity means. He is not bound up in our time.

He is not wondering how things are turning out. He's not looking forward to the future to see how things will turn out. Because it's not as though he is here and needs to look farther. Right. He simply transcends time and knows all as all is laid out before him.

If you imagine a man looking at a film strip right of a movie. He would see the various scenes. But it wouldn't be as though this scene is before and this scene is after to him. It might be to the characters in the movie, but to the one viewing the film strip.

They are all laid out before him and they are all equal. All right, and so this is how we are to God. He transcends time itself as he looks down on us. He is not. He is not. He does not have the same kind of perspective that we do that would look forward and look backward.

But rather he knows it all as one. Because he transcends time. One way you might speak of this is his knowledge is Untensed. Maybe you've heard me talk about this before his knowledge is untensed our knowledge is tensed.

Even if we were omniscient we would not Have the same kind of knowledge that God does right even if we knew everything it would not be like God's omniscience. Right because right at this moment. I know that that clock says it's 227.

I Didn't know that it said two o 'clock and I will know that it says Three o 'clock, right? So even my knowledge because I am a creature subject to time. My knowledge even if it were perfect is changing knowledge.

Take up but God is eternal. He transcends time itself. His knowledge does not change it is untensed. There is no past present or future to his knowledge. There's a past present and future to us. But not to him and so he is.

He precedes the beginning. He precedes the foundations of the earth. Everything else is temporary. He is above all these things. Another Category that you can think about this sense in is in the notion of time itself.

There's two different philosophers talk about two different notions of time. There's the a theory of time. There's the B theory of time. The a theory of time.

Says that.

Each that this present moment is more real than other moments. Okay, so I'm living in this moment. The other moment is kind of just this distant memory. It doesn't it doesn't really exist. It might as well have not existed and The future doesn't exist yet, and it may as well not exist.

All I know is this moment. The B theory of time is that every moment that exists exists equally.

From some.

Higher perspective now. These are philosophers talking that are not necessarily theologians or anything. But if you consider what should these two is true? Well, the B theory Has space for God having that divine perspective over all things all of all of Time being laid out before him every moment being laid out before him him transcending them all.

It is the B theory of time that is the only tenable Christian version. Now, there are many kinds of. You know quote-unquote Christian philosophers, I'm not even sure they are really Christian who. Try to push the a theory of time because they know that that is more amenable to most people that most people want to hear the a theory of time and.

Most philosophers like the a theory of time so they try to come up with ways that you could fit The Christian God and the Christian view of creation and to the a theory. This is the case. The only the only tenable view is the B theory of time that all All every moment all of creation is laid out before God.

He transcends it all. If you consider every single science fiction novel that you've read a movie. What are they all presuming in order to make anything work? All of them are operating with an a theory of time.

It only makes sense if you could go back to a different. You know back in time, etc. If these are not moments before an ultimate perspective, right? But rather something that was modifiable because only the present moment is the the real one, right?

So they're all operating with an a theory of time. Maybe you've never considered the way that a lot of the media you consume is. It has to it has to throw out a biblical worldview in order to in order to pursue the particular fantasy it wants to pursue.

Then after having spoken of God have being from the beginning. Speaks of princes being brought to nothing princes being temporary. He is the one who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Scarcely are they planted scarcely sown. Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth when he blows on them and they wither and the tempest Carries them off like stubble now when it talks about princes.

I remember when I Was a younger man read the Bible I always thought this was talking about children of kings because that's how I had grown up to think of princes. This really just means any powerful man any rich man and it.

Speaks of.

The rulers of the earth as Becoming emptiness that word emptiness is tohu. That is the same word as used in Very beginnings of Genesis Described the earth being formless and void right? It is just chaos.

It is nothing basically. He takes these created things and he can uncreate them. He turns them into nothing right? He takes them back into the chaos. This is what God is capable of. And he does this simply by his breath just as they are planted just as they are sown.

Just as they take root in the earth He blows on them and they wither and they blow off like stubble. Now you might recall that this is a Callback to an earlier passage in this in this chapter Isaiah 40 verse 7 said the grass withers.

The flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. Now, what is he saying? Not only are the people grass. But even the greatest of the people are grass. They might be sown for a moment they might be planted for a moment.

But just like just like the grass being planted they are blown away by the breath of the Lord. He carries them away like stubble. So they do not last. Those who would put their trust in them Are foolish because they blow away.

Yet, there's only one there's only one who's forever. He is Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13 8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever now. Have you ever Wondered about how scripture can say that that he is the same yesterday and today and forever.

He is a man. He was Incarnated at a particular moment in time. He died. He was raised from the dead. He continues on he experiences change as a man. Yet as God He is eternal. He is of all things. He is both God and man.

And so even though it addresses him it denominates him by the title Christ, which is a an incarnational title. It's a title of man him being anointed Christ meaning anointed. Even though it denominates him as man it describes him as God.

Scripture does this a few times, you know, for example Acts 20 28 talks about how God shed his own blood right? So there it's denominating him as God. But then describing his human qualities, right that he shed his own blood because of the unity of the person scripture can do that.

Denominating him by one nature while speaking properly of the other and. So Christ though he is man is the same yesterday and today and forever. It is through him that we have some kind of connection to the eternality of God.

Him having brought that in his humanity to humanity itself him lifting us up from our Temporariness and giving us life in himself. It's through him that this that this problem of temporariness Can be avoided because he gives life because he makes eternal because he is eternal Christ being both God and man.

So great men though, they might think very highly of themselves only last for a little while. But those who are very lowly in nature, they trust in Jesus Christ. They last forever having eternal life being Planted firmly by the river as it describes in Psalm 1.

You should not trust in you should not trust in great men do not place your trust in great men. There are all kinds of different great men that people trust, right? For ultimate salvation a lot of people will trust in various cult leaders and put all their faith in them.

And this is of course foolishness a lot of people put their trust in science, right? They think that science is gonna give them some kind of ultimate salvation. There are a lot of people who have paid lots of money to have their bodies or their heads Frozen in order that one day they can be raised from the dead and live forever.

Right. A lot of people have really seriously put their trust in science to provide them ultimate salvation. A lot of people trust in philosophers to give them some kind of ultimate salvation, you know, maybe if.

Yeah, maybe if I can just embrace this philosophy that the whole world is meaningless or you know. Nothing really exists and that kind of gives me an ultimate freeing from you know, this reality I'm facing that I'm going to die.

But all of those things all those things pass away. No, none of those can help. Give an ultimate salvation. A lot of people trust in Rulers for military strength. Well, some rulers are good and some rulers do provide military strength.

You cannot trust in the these things with any kind of presumption as though they are guaranteed from the Lord. They can be taken away in a heartbeat. You know acts 1222 talks about the people in the context of Herod saying, you know, this is the voice of God and not a man and You know, he has taken away from them instantly.

Those who trust in princes will have those princes removed. And a lot of people trust in and good religious leaders like good pastors. To a point where they're trusting in the pastor and not in God himself and their confidence.

It's all in them like it's it's kind of a borrowed confidence you see this a lot with very with very confident pastors and a lot of people their faith is. Their confidence in God is kind of being proxied through the man himself.

It's not just that he is the encouragement to them. But that really they are confident because this guy is confident not because they're necessarily Trusting in God because they're because they're trusting in him.

All right, and then when he fails them, right then that goes away. All right. So this is this is another way that people trust great men right people trust. People trust great men for for joy right, they they find their their.

Yeah, their joy in someone else that they appreciate and that is where they're getting it from. And then when that that is taken away. They no longer have reason for joy because it was all wrapped up in them.

Well, you can get joy from others. That is good. But if you do it in such a way that it is on that not out of the thankfulness to God. Yeah, you will find yourself. You'll find yourself wanting Micah 7 -5 says put no trust in a neighbor have no confidence in a friend.

Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in.

Your arms.

For the son treats the father with contempt. The daughter rises up against her mother the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Man's enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to the Lord.

I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me so Micah talks about the danger of Trusting in and even family and friends just like we've talked about this morning that these are not the ultimate these are not the ultimate reliable home base rather we have Spiritual family that the Lord is building for us that is not perfect in this life.

What is growing and will eventually be an eternal one that is that is something that is to be enjoyed as? With the presumption that it will not be taken away because it wouldn't be presumption at that point we have the promise of God and Considered the folly of trusting in great men.

If you trust in great men What's going to happen? They aren't just going to go away because they are temporary. Daniel 2 21 says that the the Lord sets up Kings and removes them He changes the times and the seasons.

So if it is God who is doing this right like it says He blows on them and they wither the tempest carries them off like stubble if it is God who is taking them away and He does not want you to trust in them.

What does that mean is going to happen when you start trusting in them? He will take them away. Okay, it is not what he is warning about is not the the forces of nature or you know Random things that will happen that will take away something you put your confidence in.

It's not just oh be careful these things aren't trustworthy because they're subject to random forces. No, they are subject to God. He is the one that blows and takes them away and he does not want any of his people trusting in them.

So what is he going to do out of a good for his people if his people are trusting in them? He is going to take them away. So by trusting in great men rather than God.

You are.

Inviting disaster you are inviting the great man to be taken away by trusting in them over God. Because these are not random forces that take them away, but God himself. So you should and because of this because everything is so temporary you should fear His judgments in his power not just not just if you have done wrong.

But even knowing that all things are temporary you should you should fear him. You should have humility in your plans. James 4 Says come now you who say today or tomorrow will go into such-and-such city and trade there for a year make a profit.

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life for you are missed that appears for a little time and then vanishes? Instead you ought to say the Lord wills. We will do this or that as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil.

You should say as the Lord wills. I remember sometime Late last year. I was talking about all my plans talking about what this year was gonna be and One of the mullet kids told me that I should say if the Lord wills.

He rebuked me and he was right all my plans have changed all my plans have changed this year. So it is yeah have humility and your plans. You don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, and appreciate what you have knowing that is temporary first.

Corinthians 729. This is what I mean brothers the appointed time has grown very short from now on let those who have wives live it though they had none and those who mourn as though they were not mourning and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing and those Who buy as though they had no goods and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it?

For the present form of this world is passing away. So all those things that you have while they are to be enjoyed. Like a wife is to be enjoyed a husband's to be enjoyed. Family riches. They're all to be enjoyed.

But you should hold them with a loose hand knowing that they can be taken away at any moment. Okay, the Lord Blows on the the princes as soon as they're planted is it's not it is not something that lasts forever.

You should know this temporary. You should you should prepare yourself For the loss before it happens knowing that it is temporary. Okay, if you if you are certain to lose something and you don't prepare yourself for the loss of it.

Then what are you? Yeah, then you are going to walk into the situation just completely unprepared. You need to hold things with a with a loose hand. I Would encourage you also to Take spiritual inventory on your life that you aren't needlessly inviting God to take these things away from you.

First Corinthians 10 12 said. But the one who stands take heed lest you fall. All right, if you think you stand take heed lest you fall. If you are proud because of anything Anything you are trusting in relying on if that is a snare to you then God out of his love for his own children will take those things away and The worst situation is he doesn't take them away.

So.

Take inventory. Look at your life. Look at what you have what you have placed your trust in. Consider. Consider your thought life. Consider your Relationships, you know. Ask yourself which of my possessions if they were taken away.

How would I respond if the possessions were taken away? Play out the thought experiment in your head and you can know whether or not that thing is Competing with God for your trust, right? It's good to have the things.

It's good to enjoy the things but play out the situation. What if God in his Providence were to take it away? What if God in his Providence were to take relationships away, right? Walk through.

You know.

You can even walk through the Ten Commandments and ask yourself where where I may I be Transgressing against God's law that he would need to humble me. You know do spiritual inventory a lot of people a lot of people just go about their lives.

Until the Lord does spiritual inventory for them to take them down a peg. Be proactive. Do spiritual inventory yourself. Consider your own life. Consider what needs improvement or else God will will Be doing the improvement for you.

And of course as this is not denied that he's the one at work even when you are proactive. But I'm saying that you are inviting a more humbling experience if you are not proactively Investigating your own heart and trust in the Lord salvation.

Trusting the Lord for Salvation in Every Kind of Trouble

This is really the this is really the main point of the passage. Is to trust the Lord salvation. Consider what's going on here? In the previous chapter it's been prophesied that the people will be taken away to Babylon.

Isaiah is speaking to a people that know they're going to go away in Babylon and he is speaking from that context about them being saved away from Nebuchadnezzar being saved away from the the confines of Babylon.

How will it happen? He's anticipating a skeptical people. That's why he's asking all these rhetorical questions. Do you not know who God is? Do you not know how powerful he is? Do you not know do you not hear as it been not told to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? God is greater than all these things. And so you should trust in the Lord for his salvation. There are all kinds of situations you may be in there may be natural evils.

By natural evils I just mean calamities. You might find yourself having suffered a pretty significant loss. That you don't know how you are going to get out of trust the Lord. Do you not know who he is?

Do you not know his capacity to give? You might experience moral evils at the hands of others, right? Others have done you wrong and you don't know how this is going to be right it. You don't know how justice is going to be done.

Trust the Lord. He will avenge. You might be trapped in some great sin. Maybe you have something that you are. That you don't know how you could turn from this sin. Trust the Lord he will he will uphold you so many people turn to Pragmatic or secular means in order to deal with these problems, right?

They they look at the lack of holiness in their their life and they think that they can either medicate it in some way or they think that they can just change their external circumstances because they don't and that's that is the primary thing that they go to rather than and you should remove yourself from temptation if that is what is necessary, but.

They do not think about the primary thing that needs to happen, which is the Lord changing the heart which is totally possible. You know there there are a number of times where I've been approached by people who have issues that they are trying to resolve and the the the nature of the the questions for me are often in a way to validate the pragmatic course of action that has already been decided on rather than to.

Know how God can change because there's already like a distrust. There's often already a distrust that God would change that God is that powerful that that this relationship could be reconciled that you know.

There's kind of a defeat that's already been assumed and then the objective is how do we mitigate the damages in light of the certain?

Defeat.

Do not approach your problems that way no matter what kind of problems they are no matter if their relationship problems or sin problems Or natural calamities, etc. Approach your problems knowing that the Lord is very capable and that you do not have to resort To pragmatic means as being the the main course of action rather the Lord.

It's the one you can go to. You can go to him in prayer. You can follow his word where he gives guidance. And so do not spit despair. Do not despair trust in the Lord. Isaiah is writing to a despairing people right he's writing to a people who do not know how once you've lost The land of Canaan could you ever gain it back?

Right once you have been taken captive by the enemy. How could you ever escape this? Maybe you wonder once once the enemy deals a significant blow. How can you ever recover from this? God permits those blows by the enemy so that he can show his greatness in salvation.

Not only is he capable of doing this he intends to do it and the only reason he allows the the difficulty to come is So that he can do it. Do you not know. No, think about this rhetoric to a lot of times when we when we address people who have Either Christians who have doubts or unbelievers who have false beliefs we in order to not offend Speak to them as though their doubts and door their disbelief is rational and we kind of legitimize it by by treating it Respectfully right consider some of the rhetoric He's using here.

Folks are culpable when they reject God when they engage in either real atheism or practical atheism practical atheism being Living as though there is no God or God is not powerful or he's not all-seeing right?

That's what practical atheism is. Yeah, Psalm 14 once is the fool says in his heart there is no God. Psalm 19 one says the the heavens declare the glories of God. Romans one describes how His no one is or everyone is without excuse because God has made his His wisdom and power known in all of creation.

He has made this known. It is a foolish thing to reject it there is a place for this kind of rhetoric that Isaiah is using that just talks about the utter foolishness of Distrusting God the utter foolishness of going about in defeat as though he is not all-powerful.

Do you not know. Do you not hear. Has it been not told to you from the beginning. Have you not understood it from the foundations of the earth? Why don't you get it? Now he is greater than all these things.

There is no reason for despair because He is all-powerful. He is omniscient. He is as we saw in the previous passage immense beyond physical measure and he's also eternal beyond any kind of Measurement of time.

He transcends all things. He is greater than all things. He sits above the circle of the earth. He sits in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases and what he pleases is to glorify himself in the salvation of his people.

And that is what he will do. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father. We thank you for your great promise of salvation. We pray that we would trust in it fully that we would not doubt it that we would not be the the fools who need.

These rhetorical questions thrown at us. We know that we are weak and we are inclined to such doubt. So we pray that you would strengthen us by your word in Jesus name. Amen.